Fox, Sony, Warners & Universal Launch Premium VOD

Published at 12:33 PM CDT on Mar 31, 2011 | Updated at 1:41 PM CDT on May 30, 2012

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Having sat on the sidelines for a couple of years while others made ka-jillions streaming movies, four of the major studios have banded together to form a their own overpriced on-demand service.

Fox, Sony, Warners and Universal will soon be launching Home Premiere, first on DirecTV, reported Variety, and then via cable providers at the end of April. Right now Adam Sandler's "Just Go With It," and Liam Neeson's "Unknown" are expected to be the first films rolled out, though that's subject to change.

And here's the kicker: they want to charge $30, justifying the ridiculous price by making the films available just 60 days after they debut in theaters. Apparently the thinking is that 30 bucks is a lot less than you'd pay for four people to see film in theaters, especially if those people want popcorn and beverages.

For your classic American family of four, a movie can cost $80 or more. But if your finances are such that this is too much--and, hey, we get it--why on Earth would you pay three to 10 times as much to rent a film just a couple of weeks earlier than you could from Netflix or Amazon?

"Just Go With It"

The major reason you pay extra to see a film in the theater is the humongous screen and the communal experience. So once you've forgone those two draws, does it make any sense to drop an extra $20 see it two weeks before your equally frugal neighbor? Heck, for $30 you could just wait for it on DVD , allwoing you to own it forever and get all the bonus features.

You're average movie theater is a sad dungeon where a fourth of the seats aren't worth sitting in, the seats are often uncomfortable, the food's overpriced, people chatter and text and take phone calls... it's a drag. Why not focus on improving the experience of seeing a film on the big screen?